Monday, 30 January 2012

An earlier post of this blog presented the information to hand on the breeding of the Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) in La Serena Reservoir. New figures have recently been published in Ardeola, so we hereby update that earlier information.

The Ardeola text ran as follows:"Count of the breeding population in La Serena Reservoir in 2011 with a total of 341 breeding pairs shared out in five colonies: the biggest lies in the province of Badajoz with 313 pairs; in the same province there are two more breeding clusters with 11 and 3 nesting pairs; one 13-nest colony was found in the Córdoba part and one isolated nest in the Ciudad Real part". This therefore makes a total of 341 total pairs, 327 in Badajoz, 13 in Córdoba and one in Ciudad Real (Xurxo Piñeiro)."

Friday, 27 January 2012

Here you have the very latest figures on the population of the Spanish Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti) in Spain and Extremadura, published by the Spanish Environment Ministry for 2011. The situation is very upbeat for yet another year, with 39 more pairs than the previous year. This represents a 14% increase in a single year. From 2006 to 2011 the population has grown by no fewer than 102 pairs, pride of place going to Castilla-La Mancha, which has almost doubled its figures in this period. Extremadura, on the other hand, is only treading water, with one pair more than the previous year. Numbers have been holding steady in Extremadura for the last six years so the situation cannot exactly be called bad, but it is now lagging behind the considerable increases being recorded elsewhere. Witness the fact that only one of the 102 new pairs recorded since 2006 is nesting in Extremadura.

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

During the breeding season all Extremadura's heron colonies were visited as part of the national breeding heron survey. Nests occupied by Spoonbills were found in 7 of the heron colonies, adding up to a total of 73 pairs. These are the highest figures recorded to date. The colonies were the following:

- Montijo Reservoir (Badajoz). 25 pairs. Biggest colony ever recorded in Extremadura.- Valle del Tiétar I (Cáceres). 22 pairs.- Valle del Tiétar II (Cáceres). 12 pairs (8 certain and up to 15 possible). New site a few kilometres from the former one on private land. Access denied. All the nests are in a big Cork Oak; the size of the nests and the state of the colony suggest that the colony has been occupied for some years.- Alqueva I Reservoir (Badajoz). 9 pairs.- Alqueva Reservoir II (Badajoz). 1 pair.- Valle del Alagón (Cáceres). 3 pairs with nest, no signs of breeding.- El Borbollón Reservoir (Cáceres). 1 pair of adults in one nest and one juvenile on the only visit made. New site.

Three visits were made to the Valle del Tiétar I colony to monitor breeding success. The 22 detected pairs all began breeding. In 15 nests it was possible to estimate the final number of fledglings: 41. Extrapolated to the whole colony this would give a figure of about 60 fledglings. This represents a fledgling rate of 2.93 chicks per successful nest and an estimated productivity and breeding success of 2.73 chicks per pair. Both parameters are well up on 2010 (1.94 and 1.43 respectively).

As regardswintering birds, in December we took part in the GRUSEC-brokered national Spoonbill count. Several sites were visited in Extremadura, with a total of 28 Spoonbills in six of them:- Lagunas de La Albuera (Badajoz), 11 birds.- Los Canchales Reservoir (Badajoz), 2 birds.- Charcas de Los Arenales (Cáceres), 7 birds.- Charca de El Ancho (Cáceres), 6 birds.- Laguna de Galisteo (Cáceres), 1 bird.- Valdefuentes Gravel Pit, Galisteo (Cáceres), 1 bird.